A US-based telecommunications company that provides communications services to US immigration authorities.
AT&T Inc, headquartered in Dallas, is a telecommunications company that provides mobile, internet, cybersecurity, and entertainment services.
AT&T provides communications and maintenance services to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its subagencies, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Between 2003 and August 2024, DHS awarded AT&T contracts worth over $680 million.
In September 2023, CBP awarded AT&T a contract worth a potential $277,000 for providing telecommunications services in support of the agency’s “Law Enforcement Operations Directorate (LEOD)” through September 2024. The LEOD oversees U.S. borders by “providing guidance and direct support” to CBP sectors across the country; this support includes day-to-day law enforcement activities.
AT&T also supports CBP’s Mobile Video Surveillance Systems (MVSS), which consists of “day and night camera systems fitted on telescopic poles mounted on Border Patrol 4 x 4 vehicles.” CBP awarded AT&T this contract in 2022.
This 11-year contract, set to end in June 2025, is part of FirstNet, a nationwide communications network for first responders that covers over 250,000 square miles across the U.S. CBP began using the network in November 2018 after AT&T pitched it to the agency. The company claimed that it would allow CBP to access “photographs, real-time audio/video feeds, and databases from other state, local, or Federal agencies, or within CBP to aid in the identification and apprehension of terrorists, undocumented aliens, and smugglers.” Under this contract, AT&T will upgrade CBP’s FirstNet network to “ensure reliable, high-speed wireline and wireless connectivity among CBP’s Federal Law Enforcement Agents nationwide” and support the agency’s “approach to managing U.S. borders, customs operations, [and] immigration.”
ICE awarded AT&T its first contract to join the FirstNet network in July 2018. In 2019, it awarded the company another FirstNet contract for $31.4 million, set to expire in September 2024.
AT&T continues to grow and update FirstNet. In February 2024, FirstNet and AT&T announced announced a 10-year, $8 billion plan for the network that will expand “mission-critical services,” build “thousands of new, purpose-built FirstNet cell sites across the country,” upgrade existing network tools, and more. The company has also expanded into counties along the U.S.–Mexico border, including Pima, Ariz.; Maverick, Texas; and Hidalgo, N.M. As of 2024, all 50 U.S. states and about 27,500 public safety agencies and organizations use FirstNet.